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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The &#8220;No Dumping&#8221; sign hasn&#8217;t deterred people from making a mess of the hillside along Thompson Street near Tony Castrine&#8217;s house.</p><p>The secluded area in the city&#8217;s North End has become a favorite spot for illegal dumping of mattresses, furniture and construction debris, raising the ire of Castrine and others.</p><p>&#8220;You wouldn&#8217;t want it in your neighborhood,&#8221; Castrine, 68, of Ralph Street, said Tuesday as he peered over the guide rail to point out the garbage hung up by the tree trunks on the bank.</p><p>Ten years ago Castrine and neighbors organized a cleanup of the land owned by the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority. Wilkes-Barre Department of Public Works employees hauled away the trash. But it&#8217;s been a chronic problem due to the location and the lack of resources to prevent it.</p><p>Castrine has complained about it and so has city councilman Mike Merritt who represents District A. Their efforts have paid off when a work detail from the DPW crew showed up Monday afternoon.</p><p>&#8220;They only got so far,&#8221; Castrine said. They pulled out box springs and mattresses and cut down some trees, he said.</p><p>&#8220;They could spend a couple weeks here and it wouldn&#8217;t get it done,&#8221; Castrine said.</p><p>Still, it was a welcome sign something was being done.</p><p>Merritt promised to press the issue with Butch Frati, the city&#8217;s Director of Operations.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll keep bringing it up until it&#8217;s done,&#8221; Merritt said.</p><p>That could take some time, however.</p><p>Frati said DPW crews first take care of garbage and recycling pickups. Due to the staffing limitations a crew can&#8217;t be assigned just for the illegal dumping cleanup, Frati said.</p><p>The city shouldn&#8217;t even be doing it because it&#8217;s Redevelopment Authority property, Frati pointed out. Attempts to have the owner take care of it have been unsuccessful, he added.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re just going to have to do it ourselves,&#8221; Frati said.</p><p>Andy Reilly, the executive director of the Redevelopment Authority, acknowledged it&#8217;s been tough to prevent illegal dumping on its property.</p><p>Equally difficult has been the inability to monitor the land along the 55 miles of railroad track it owns. Reilly said the Redevelopment Authority works with municipalities to police it.</p><p>&#8220;It is a problem, especially where it&#8217;s hidden,&#8221; Reilly said.</p><p>For a cleanup in Hanover Township, the Redevelopment Authority provided a garbage container and the municipality supplied the manpower, Reilly said. But a surveillance camera placed on top of a pole at the site was gone within 24 hours, he added.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll certainly do whatever we can,&#8221; Reilly said and that includes prosecuting people caught dumping illegally.</p><p>Castrine promised to keep watch in his neighborhood and keep on the city to finish the job.</p><p>&#8220;If they don&#8217;t I&#8217;ll be back down (at City Hall) again. I&#8217;m going to make them so sick of seeing me,&#8221; Castrine said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A mattress and other trash have been thrown into a wooded area along Thompson Street in Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s North End. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091819dump2.jpg</photo0><caption0>A mattress and other trash have been thrown into a wooded area along Thompson Street in Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s North End. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091819dump3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A hillside along Thompson Street in Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s North End has become an illegal dumping ground. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091819dump3.jpg</photo1><caption1>A hillside along Thompson Street in Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s North End has become an illegal dumping ground. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091819dump1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Tony Castrine points out the area along Thompson Street littered with garbage that has been illegally dumped in the wooded area. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_TTL091819dump1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Tony Castrine points out the area along Thompson Street littered with garbage that has been illegally dumped in the wooded area. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Illegal dumping recurring problem in Wilkes-Barre neighborhood, cleanup taking time